Feeding mechanism for printing and like machines



Jan. 19, 1932. W I 1,841,560

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING AND LIKE MACHINES Filed Aug. 31, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l 'INVENTO 6a I ATTYs.

Jan. 19, 1932. F. WAITE 1,841,560

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING AND LIKE MACHINES Filed Aug; 31, 1929 :5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I E T P? 5 Jan. 19, 1932. F. WAITE 1,841,560

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING AND LIKE MACHINES Filed Aug. :51, i929 s Sheets-Sheet s ATTYS,

Patented Jan. 1 9, 1932 Urrn STATES FRED warns, "on INGLEWOOD, ENGLAND.

Fnnmne MECHANISM-FOR PRINTING AND LIKE macninns Application filed. August 31, 1929, Serial at. 389,729, and in Great Britain September 3, 1928. I

This invention relates to sheet feeding mechanism for printing and like machines, of the type wherein oscillating suction members or quadrants are made use of and my present invention consists; in constructing and arranging the oscillating quadrant members so that by being fixed upon their operating shaft (which is mounted upon station- ,ary bearings fixed upon the framework of Q the machine) and making use of an appropriately shaped cam for operating said shaft greater precision in the actions of the said devices is secured by being able to start the feeding of each sheet from a position where 5 the quadrants are approximately stationary and afterwards increase said speed to finally deliver the front edge of the sheet to the nip of a pair of feed rollers; the use of which is well known, at'approximately the same speed as that of the peripheries of said rollers at which time the suction actions are cut-off to liberate the sheet. Further than this by my formation of the oscillating quadrants and that of certain of the parts in contact 5 with which they move,' adjustments of same are permitted to compensate for wear or deterioration, while by the employment of guiding plates between which each sheet, as it is being fed, will pass forward to the usual feed rollers of the printing or other machine, un-

der the control of detectormechanism which controls and limits the feeding actions to the supplying of only one or a' single sheet during each cyclev of actions of the feeding mechanism. My invention further extends to the employment of blowing devices which may be adjusted to meet the requirements of varied kinds of thicknesses of sheets that have to be fed so that the detaching of single sheets and the engagement of same by'the oscillating suction membersis effectively secured. This engagement of the sheets by the oscillating suction members when feeding 4 those of increased thickness is also greatly assisted by the employment of vertically reciprocating suction tubes which are mounted upon and operated by devices hereinafter described. In order that my said invention may be readily understood 1. have hereunto apdrawn to an enlarged scale and shows only pended sheets of drawings illustrative thereof to which byfigures and letters reference is made in the following description Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus or mechanism arranged to feed sheets to a print-' 'ing or like machine.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of same as seen looklng from right to left of Fig. 1.

Flg. 31s a similar view-to Fig. 1 but is the suction mechanism and parts in connection therewith, hereinafter described.

Fig. 4 is a view of the parts shown by Fig. 3 as seen looking from right to left of said figure.

Fig. 5 shows in detail certain partsshown by Fig. 1 and seen in the same direction, said "parts being drawn to an enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is a view of the parts shown by Fig. 5 as seen looking from left. to right of said figure.

Fig. 7 is a plan of certain of the parts shown by Fig. 9.. said parts being used for preventing the delivery of 'rnore than one sheet at one and the same time.

Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation (drawn to an enlarged scale) showing the lateral flange on a quadrant member with an opening through it opposite the duct in a suction bracket hereinafter described.

Fig. 9 is an elevation similar to Fig. 3 but only shows certain of the calipering devices of which Fig. 7 is a plan.

B indicates the end frame of the machine.

In carrying my invention into effect I make use of one or more suction nozzles each of which is'in the-form of a tube 2 (one of said nozzles alone being shown by the drawings although as is hereinafter explained more than one of these nozzles may be made use of). Each nozzle 2 is in the form of a tube and I mount this tube 2 (which has its upper end closed) so that it may be pivoted at 2a to a lever 3 which is fixed upon a shaft 4, while said tube is guided through a guiding part 18h formed integrally with the bracket 18.

The lower end of this tube 2 reaches down inorder tocontact with the uppermost sheet of a pile of sheets 5 that have to be fed so that by said engagement with the uppermost sheet it will select a single sheet and separate same from the pile of sheets 5 to feed it upwardly to the quadrant members 11, 11a by which it is carried to the machine as desired.

The shaft 1 upon which the lever 55 is fixed has another lever 7 also fixed upon itso that by said lever 7 being connected by a rod 8 to alever 9 while said lever 9 (which is pivoted at a to the end frame B) has a cam follower 9a mounted upon it to take over a cam 10 as said cam 10 revolves so will the rod 8 be raised and lowered, and therefore oscillatory motion will be transmitted to the shaft 4 and consequently also to the tube 2. The cam 10 is fixed upon one of the motor shafts 10a of the mechanism. When the tube 2 is not required to be used, it may be raised to its highest position so that its operating de vices may be detached from it or the actions of these may be arrested.

Adjoining the suction tube 2 and on each side thereof (and preferably in close proximity thereto) I mount the oscillating quadrant segments 11 and 11a (each of which is formed to have a lateral flange 6) and these are in such positions that after the tube 2 has engaged the edge of a sheet (as is shown by Fig. 3) and has been moved to lift said sheet so that it is brought into contact with the curved peripheral surfaces Z) of the quad rant-segments, the suction action through the openings 6 in the said segments, causes the sheet to be held in contact with same in order that it may be moved forward to be engaged with by the feed or transferring rollers (not shown in the drawings) which are situated to receive same in well known manner.

It is obvious that instead of only one row of holes 79 in each quadrant, I may have two or more rows or series of same with the surfaces 5 formed to meet their requirements.

The two quadrant-s 11 and 110. are fixed upon a shaft 12 which is mounted to oscillate upon fixed bearings secured to the end frame B.

Each of the quadrants 11, 11c has a lateral flange 6 which is made to pass through and oscillate within a slot made through the plate 6a so that the peripheral surface of said lateral flange may be contacted with by the sheets of paper fed thereto.

This shaft 12 has fixed upon it a lever arm 13 which by a connecting rod 14 is coupled to a lever 15 that is pivoted at (Z on a stud fixed to the end frame 13. On this lever 15 is mounted a bowl or runner 16 which is for engagement with a cam 17 fixed upon one of the motor shafts 18d of the machine. Thus as said shaft 18d revolves the cam 17 causes the lever 15 to oscillate the lever and also to oscillate the shaft 12-and the quadrants 11 and 11a, and by reason of being able to form the cam surface of the cam 17 of any desired shape I am enabled to arrange said cam surface to commence the forward movement of the quadrants 11 and 11a slowly and then to increase the speed of same so that when the sheet is advanced to the nip of the usual feed rollers, it has reached a speed approximating the peripheral. speed of said roller with re suits that I have found to be advantageous.

The peripheral flanges .7) on the quadrants l1 and 11a are arranged to cover a duct or opening 18a formed in a bracket or member 18 and this member 18 leads from said duct 18a so that a passage through it may have the opening 19a of a suction tube 19 to lead into it, thus the air that is withdrawn through the tube 19 causes a partial vacuum in the hollow part of the member 18 and therefore has a sucking effect through the duct 18 which in contact with the flanges Z) on the quadrants 11 and 11a. From this it will be observed that the exhaustion of air, (in manner well known) from the parts described, will enable any of the openings Z2 in the quadrant flanges Z) on the members 11 and 11a, on coming opposite the duct 18a to allow the suction through said duct and through said. openings 1) to attract the sheet of paper against the peripheral flanges Z2 described, consequently by the oscillations of the quadrants 11, 11a as effected by the cam 17 the said quadrants will carry the engaged sheet from the position shown in full lines of Fig. 3 to the position they occupy as shown in broken lines of the same figure, by which means the said sheet will be caused to pass beneath the upper plate 6a (which acts to deflect it on to the plate 6) and over the lower plate 6 which leads to the well known rollers to which the said sheet has to be delivered or fed.

In order to check or relieve the suction through the hollow part of the member 18, a

'valve 20 is raised from the opening 186 which leads to the hollow part of the member 18. Thus the suction action is controlled by said valve 20 closing said opening and being raised from closing same under the control of a cam 21. This cam 21 is fixed upon the shaft 18d, so that as said shaft rotates the cam 21 this cam causes the bowl or runner 35 which is carried by a lever 22 (pivoted upon the stud d) to oscillate. And by the levers 22 being connected by a rod 23 to the arm 20a upon which the valve 20 is formed, the actions of the cam 21 will control the suction apparatus as desired.

.The arm 20a of the valve 20 is pivoted at 206 upon the framework of the machine.

As is hereinafter stated, although I have shown only one nozzle 2, I may have two or more of said nozzles operated by the same shaft 4: and their respective levers 3 in which case the nozzle occupying the central position will adjoin the quadrants while the added nozzles will be arranged in equal numbers on cured.

10 b as shown by Fig. 8 in order that should any wear or deterioration of the contacting surfaces take place then by moving the quadrants 11, 11a nearer to the member 18 the jointing of the one to the other will be se- The actions of the series of holes or openings through the quadrants 11, 11a are well known.

To assist the lifting of the uppermost sheet 20 from the pile of sheets 5 by the suction tube 2 in order to facilitate the separating of said top sheet from said pile I employ a blast'of air to be blown against the front edges 5; of

the pile of sheets and beneath the top or up permost sheet and this I efiect through a V mouth-piece 24 (shown byFig. 5) having its final aperture adjustable about its pivotal centre 24a by which means, I may regulate same to direct its blast higher or lower against the edges 5; of the sheets 5 as may be found advantageous.

I may obtain this blast of air from any suitable source but I preferably obtain same by the employment of a rotary blower which might also be used for producing a partial vacuum in the member 18.

The nozzle 24: through which the blast of air is blown infront of the sheets 5, is mounted upon a tube 22a which extends crosswise the machine so that by mounting said tube in the bearings 25 and causing same to extend beyond the framework an appropriate adjusting lever 26 may be employed for raising the nozzle 2 1 or depressing same while by the actions of the screw 27 upon a lever 28 (which is connected by a rod 28a to a lever 29 upon which the nozzle 24 is mounted) I can also adjust the same nozzle in any desired position or at any angle relative to the horizontal plane as may be found necessary.

When feeding sheets of paper which is not thick but which may be easily bent and raised by the blast of air from the blowing mechanism, the suction tube 2 is not then necessary and its actions may be suspended as hereinbefore stated, since at such times the blast of air may be directed by the adjustable nozzlc so that it not only separates the front edge of the sheet from the pile, but also continues to blow forward beneath such sheet and causes it to be raised into sphere of the suction actions of the quadrants 11 and 11a.

To prevent the feeding of more than one sheet (at one and the same time) to the well 35 known type offeed or transfer rollers above referred to, I make use of one or more detectors 30 (see Figs. 7 and 9) which I so construct and arrange that I am enabled readily and accurately to adjust them tocalibrate or measure the thickness of each sheet without the employment of any fine adjusting screw devices.

' These detectors I fix upon the shaft 3 which is pivoted on bearings 32 above the upper plate 6a of the feed mechanism. 7

These detector devices consist of said members 30 (which areshown as being two in number by Fig. '4')v extending from the shaft 31 and at each side of a central member 33 which extends from the same shaft 31 upon whichall three of them are fixed.

' The member 33 rests upon the upper plate 6a while the members 30 pass through said plate and approach the upper surfaces of the plate 6.

In normal position the ends of the detectors 30 which pass through the plate 6 are arranged to rest upon the upper surface of the plate 6 while the end of the arm 33' will be resting upon the upper surface of the plate I 6a. Now, on account of the point of contact of the end of the arm 33 with the upper surface of the plate 6a, not being so far from the centre. ofcscillationtof the shaft 31 as are the points of contact of detectors 30 which extend through the plate 6% to rest upon the plate 6, it follows that when a sample sheet (or portion of a sheet) is placed beneath the end of the arm 33 and on the upper surface of the plate 60;, said arm will be raised through a space equal to the thickness of the sample sheet while the ends of the detectors 30 will be raised slightly higher than said thickness above the plate 6, consequently when the mechanism is started into action to feed sheets of a thickness equal to that of the sample supporting the arm. 33, single sheets which are so fed will pass freely under the detectors 30, but if more than a single sheet is presented to the ends of the detectors 30 the advancing movement of same is arrested. Thus it will be seen that the sample sheet taken from the pile of sheets that are to be fed, is made, by the employment of the devices described to act as the gauge or controlling member of the feed-mechanism.

Instead of having two arms 30 I may have and connecting rod and lever mechanism for transmitting oscillatory motion to said shaft, means for transmitting rotary motion to the cam, a hollow member through which air is withdrawn from the quadrant surface, means for supporting a pile of sheets in proximity to the oscillating member, a plate in close proximity to said oscillating member and below which the sheets are guided, another plate beneath said upper guiding plate, a pivoted shaft mounted upon the upper guiding plate, a lever arm extending from said shaft to rest upon the upper surface of the guiding plate, other arms extending from the same shaft to pass through openings in the upper plate so that their extending ends can ap preach the lower plate and means placed beneath the lever arm resting upon the upper plate to gauge the thickness of sheet being fed.

2. In feeding mechanism for printing and like machines an. oscillating member having a quadrant surface with suction holes, a shaft upon which the oscillating member is fixed, fixed bearings for operating said shaft, a cam and connecting rod and lever mechanism for transmitting oscillatory motion to said shaft, means for transmitting rotary motion to the cam, a hollow member through which air is withdrawn from the quadrant surface, means for supporting a pile of sheets in proximity to the oscillating member, a plate in close proximity to said oscillating member and below which the sheets are guided, another plate beneath said upper guiding plate, a pivoted shaft mounted upon the upper guiding plate, a lever arm extending from said pivoted shaft, adapted to rest upon the upper surface of the upper guiding plate and having an extension from the arm beyond the contacting point with the upper plate so that the outer end of said arm may pass through the upper plate and approach the lower plate.

FRED VAITE. 

